Launching an attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the BJP today accused her party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), of not accounting for over Rs 24 crore “it spent on political campaigns” in 2013-14. Union minister Piyush Goyal asked the TMC supremo to “come clean” on the source of the money and took a dig at her saying it was now clear why was she opposed to demonetisation, which was “aimed at curbing black money”.

As per the Election Commission’s (EC) guidelines, the political parties had to account for their expenses even when they were getting funds from a third party, he said. Goyal cited a media report which claimed that the Income Tax department had reportedly sent a notice to the TMC. “While the Union government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking steps to curb black money and corruption and boost transparency, we now know why some parties were so opposed to transparency and demonetisation,” the Union Power Minister told a press conference.

He added that all the political parties in the country should follow the BJP’s “example” as far as transparency was concerned. Goyal also asked the opposition parties not to “politicise” every investigation “under the garb of secularism and freedom of press”.

He took a jibe at the opposition parties over their attempts to forge unity saying it looked like a “coalition of the corrupt against a government trying to put an end to corruption”.